The Mogao Grottoes are a holy land for China’s largest existing Buddhist caves, with one of the world’s richest selections of Buddhist art items. After ten dynasties’ (about 1600 years) of ups and downs, the grottoes now feature 492 caves with more than 2,000 colored Buddha figures, over 1,000 reliefs and tens of thousands of scriptures. Welcome to China, Chinatourguide.com is pleasure to provide service for your China tours, We also provide Thailand tour packages or Cambodia tour packages.

Also known as the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang city, northwest China’s Gansu province, are well-known for their fine wall paintings and sculptures. In 1987, the Caves were inscribed on the World Heritage List. The construction of the Mogao Caves started in 366 in the Qianqin Dynasty. In that year, a monk whose Buddhist name was Le Zun wandered to this place, and saw thousands of golden lights on the Sanwei Mountain looking like thousands of Buddhas. Thinking that this place must be a great place for Buddhism, the monk cut the first cave on the rock face. Afterwards, the construction work continued in the following dynasties, and did not stop until the Yuan Dynasty (A.D. 1271—1368).

About one hundred years ago Western World museums and art dealers became aware of the artistic treasures. Soon, they and their Chinese agents began exporting many of the irreplaceable scrolls to the West. Fortunately, nearly all the wall drawings and painted statues were left behind.